Staff at Mildenhall care home report that residents ‘at risk’

Standards at a Mildenhall care home have failed to improve almost three months after it received a notice to improve from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Standards at a Mildenhall care home have failed to improve almost three months after it received a notice to improve from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

CQC inspectors reported that Mabbs Hall Care Home was failing to meet all seven standards examined during an unannounced inspection on January 29 and 30.

The notice had been issued following an inspection of the home, run by MNS Care, in October 2012.

In their latest report, inspectors say the care providers failure to deliver services in a way that ensured people’s health, safety and welfare was protected and poor staffing levels were having a major impact on residents.

The report states that most of the staff members inspectors questioned felt staffing levels placed residents ‘at risk as they were unable to provide the care required with the number of staff available’.

The home also failed to meet expected standards to safeguard residents from abuse.

Inspectors reported that a staff member had passed on concerns that one or more person’s health, wellbeing or human rights may have suffered harm, abuse or neglect, which the home’s management team failed to act upon.

Among the other standards the care home failed to meet were meeting nutritional needs, assessing the quality of service provision and record keeping.

The care home’s failure to meet standards has been referred to the Clinical Commissioning Group, Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Police.

A spokesperson for Suffolk County Council said: “Our safeguarding staff have been assessing all residents in the home to ensure their needs are being met.

“Each resident has been offered a review of their circumstances with the opportunity to move. Some residents have chosen to move and some have opted to stay.”

Suffolk Police said an investigation has been conducted after the CQC reported safeguarding concerns and following that investigation they would be taking no further action.

Gillian Robinson, MNS Care’s director of care, said: “We continue to move the home forward. We have a new crisis management team in place called Fresh Care who are continuing to support the home.

She said that staffing levels had improved since the inspection and a reduction in the number of residents at the home had facilitated a focus on staff training.”

Martyn Green, chief executive of Age UK Suffolk, said: “Poor care in this day and age is unacceptable.

“The Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards are a guide to the essential standards of quality and safety that an individual should expect to receive whilst in a care environment.

“I would hope that care homes should be seeking, in all cases, to achieve higher standards than those stipulated.”